PLATTE RIVER RIGHTS
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and the federal government are still at odds over agreement.
ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS
They call it a cooperative agreement.
The problem: It has been tough to get people to cooperate, and so far there is no final agreement on what should be done to help four endangered or threatened species survive along the Platte River in central Nebraska.
It has been nearly nine years since Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and the U.S. Department of the Interior signed the "Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats Along the Central Platte River" to address habitat and water issues in the Platte River basin. The agreement covers the North and South Platte rivers and the Platte River.
All three states are involved because they store and use water from the rivers that make up the Platte system. In doing so, they affect the amount of water that flows downstream and, consequently, the habitat for three birds - the whooping crane, piping plover and interior least tern - and one fish, the pallid sturgeon.
Water and land are at the heart of the disagreement.
Environmental groups and some government agencies want water and land set aside to improve wildlife habitat. Farmers, ranchers and others who rely on the rivers for irrigation and drinking water fear losing water and land - and maybe their livelihoods.
Terry Lauby, who farms in the Lexington area, doesn't think much of either the cooperative agreement or the Endangered Species Act. He said he believes extinction is a "normal process of life."
"The problem I have with it is we have mankind trying to regulate a God-given commodity and it ain't going to work," Lauby said. "When man starts regulating a natural resource, it usually ends up being a disaster, and I'm afraid that's what's going to happen. I'm afraid they are going to regulate it to death."
The three states have good reasons to cooperate. First, the agreement will save them millions of dollars. Doing nothing would mean dozens of water projects with federal ties - dams, reservoirs and hydroelectric plants - would be scrutinized under the Endangered Species Act to see if they would jeopardize the four species or their habitats. For example, irrigation districts in the Nebraska Panhandle would have to be examined separately - an expensive and lengthy process. Officials said the program's recovery plan for the four species would help past and future water-related activities in the basin upstream from Columbus comply with the act.
"The cooperative agreement gives us coverage for everything that we have done," said Roger Patterson, former director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources. "It also provides recovery actions for these species collectively. Nebraska is not doing it by itself but with Colorado and Wyoming. It keeps us out of jeopardy with the Endangered Species Act."
But some farmers and ranchers don't like some of the proposals, especially the amount of land required. The long-term goal is to protect 29,000 acres along the Platte between Lexington and Chapman, the area used most frequently by the three bird species and considered to be one of the most important migratory bird areas in the world. The river and its nearby wet meadows provide habitat for millions of migratory birds, including some 600,000 sandhill cranes.
"It's a horrible amount of land that the cooperative agreement wants," Lexington-area farmer Joe Jeffrey said. "Nobody stopped to figure the exact amount of land they are asking for when, in all reality, the birds and farmers are getting along fine."
But water may be the biggest issue.
Environmentalists said decades of building dams, diverting water for irrigation, drilling wells and other developments have reduced river flow and harmed wildlife habitat, especially along the central Platte.
More than six years of drought have worsened the situation. What was once a broad, shallow river with braided channels and sandbars - ideal habitat for the four species - is now constricted and clogged with trees and other vegetation in some areas. In the summer, the Platte River is often dry.
In 2003, the National Academy of Sciences reported that the loss of habitat throughout much of the United States led to the initial decline in the populations of the four species and their eventual listing as threatened or endangered. Reduced flows and loss of open-channel areas in the Platte River have contributed to the habitat decline.
The plight of these four species came to the forefront in the 1980s and '90s during the federal relicensing of Kingsley Dam, which forms Lake McConaughy, the largest reservoir in the Platte basin. Citing the Endangered Species Act, the federal government mandated that conditions be improved for the four species along the Platte, especially in central Nebraska.
Jeffrey leased about 4,000 acres to the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District when it went through the relicensing process for Kingsley. He said he also has concerns about water issues but is not totally against the cooperative agreement.
"It's making the three states talk," he said. "They have admitted we have water problems. Let's talk so we don't get involved in litigation that could cost us millions of dollars."
Tim Anderson, a spokesman for the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, said he also believes the agreement is a step in the right direction.
"What the cooperative agreement does (is) it gives certainty," he said. "Right now there is not certainty."
A governance committee comprised of federal and state officials, water users from all three states and environmental groups has worked on the agreement. After years of meetings and intense negotiations, the group is putting the finishing touches on a species recovery program for the Platte River basin.
Dale Strickland, who heads the committee, said some issues still needed to be "fleshed out," but said he believes the proposal is ready for review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which enforces the Endangered Species Act.
A draft analysis of the proposal's effect on the environment is under review, and a final document was expected to be completed by early 2006. Additionally in early 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was expected to release its biological opinion on whether the proposal meets the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, Strickland said. Once those two things happen, he said, the U.S. secretary of the Interior will make "a record of decision."
But before the program can be implemented, it must be accepted by the governors of Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado, as well as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. If all parties approve, Strickland said, the program should go into effect in October 2006.
The cost is expected to exceed $200 million, Strickland said. Most of the money will go to buy land, develop habitat and manage water. The federal government will pay half of the cost. The rest will be divided among the three states and water users.
"I would say that the cost is a fraction of what the federal government is spending on basin-wide programs across the country," Strickland said.
Felipe Chavez-Ramirez, director of the Platte River Whooping Crane Trust, praised the cooperative agreement, saying it is a good idea to try to get all three states and a wide variety of water users together to come up with a program.
"But the fact that it has taken so long is worrisome," he said. "There are problems with some issues that haven't been resolved to everybody's satisfaction."
One sticking point is the perception that some surface-water users might be losing access, privileges or rights to water.
Chavez-Ramirez said nobody is going to lose surface-water rights.
"There's no taking away of any rights. It's just finding better ways to use the water. That's why it's difficult to get there," he said.
The Central Platte Natural Resources District is concerned about how groundwater users would be affected because of the supposed connection between nearby groundwater and water in the river. The district has more than 26,000 wells that provide water for agriculture, homes, cities, towns and industry.
"We want to make sure that groundwater pumpers' concerns and issues are taken into account as this thing is negotiated, and that development and groundwater needs are met, too," said district biologist Mark Czaplewski.
Duane Hovorka, executive director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation, said he is also concerned about the slow progress.
While progress has been made on some issues, Hovorka said, there are still major obstacles. He is concerned that a lot of water development in Nebraska is not addressed in the program, including the impact of wells that are not close to the Platte.
Strickland was cautiously optimistic of a final agreement on the issues.
"It's a voluntary program. The federal government and any state could back out at any time," he said. "My sense is the parties are more committed now than they ever have been."
